The Christmas celebrations began early. After all of the festivities of the last blog, we went to Massachusetts to visit my family. It was Adisyn's first trip up there and also her first time on an airplane. On the way up there, we left after we got out of work, so it was a late flight. We gave her Benadryl early enough that it would kick in for the flight. It was also past her bed time by the time we arrived at the airport, so we thought for sure she would be asleep! But, just the opposite happened - even though we've given her Benadryl many times in the past to sleep, she was more hyper than she's ever been! I guess it was all the excitement of new things! On the airplane she did fine but you could tell that she was really over tired. When we landed, we got the car seat in our rental car and before we even left the parking garage, she was asleep. We stayed with my sister, auntie "Lala" and we got in late that night. Adisyn got to meet my niece, Kylli and my aunt Jeannie officially for the first time (even though she has talked to them on Skype before) as well as the rest of my family. My mom, "Mimi" stayed over my sister's house as well, so she could see Adisyn the whole time. The next day we got about 9 inches of snow. Luckily I have some ski pants that I got on consignment for Adisyn that I brought along with us so she could enjoy the snow. Even though she saw snow last year, she was too young to remember it. She went with Kylli and Mark sledding for the first time. I don't think she was too excited either about the snow or going down a hill on a fast sled, but when she got down at the end of the hill, she let us know that she was all done! She really like Kylli and wanted to follow her around. It was nice to see the cousins playing together - Kylli is so good with little kids! We had a pre-Christmas party where my family came over and opened our gifts for them and they got to see Adisyn open presents as well! She really liked seeing my family and did not want to leave!
On the way back Adisyn did really well on the plane. She did not cry or get impatient, at all. She sat on my lap the whole time and we just played and read. I was really impressed! She is still talking about the plane ride: "Adi went on airplane...it went up, up, up then down, down, down. Adis sat on mommy's lap!". Her teachers tell me that she talks about it at school too. She did great!
We had such a fun, wonderful Christmas! Adisyn was really getting the hang of the whole thing. She wasn't too sure of the whole Santa thing, at first, but then she really liked the whole idea of Santa, the reindeer, and Christmas. Her second meeting of Santa was great (the first not so good). She was talking to Santa and smiled for the pictures! She was so cute!
Christmas Eve we started a tradition where she opens up a special gift that night. This gift is something we can use that night, to get ready for Santa Clause. This year we got her special Christmas pajamas and a Christmas book that we read that night. The next morning daddy made a special breakfast and she opened our gifts from us and from our family then the Santa Clause present. Santa got her a kitchen, which she loved! She also got a medical kit and a play do kit from mommy and daddy. She loved the dolls that my dad sent her, which were ones my grandmother made years ago, as well as a cute big stuffed dog. Grandma and Grandpa got her a crib for her babies and a hello kitty cd player. She had so much fun opening everything and loved it all!
Christmas day Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and an apple cake we made for Adisyn's birthday. Adisyn loves apples, so that's why we made her a homemade apple cake! I think we just wanted something unique and since we were cooking anyway we thought, why not?
We really hope we are passing along traditions and memories to Adisyn that she'll always cherish. The purpose of Christmas is to remember the real reason, which is the birth of Jesus. We don't want her to get wrapped up in the commercialism, but understand the true meaning of giving, spending time with family and to celebrate. Each year as she gets older she is understanding more and more. We love making memories!
